The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
. | released = Nintendo 64 November 21, 1998 / November 23, 1998 December 18, 1998 iQue November 2003 Virtual Console February 23, 2007 / February 26, 2007 February 27, 2007 | genre = Action-adventure | modes = Single-player | ratings = ESRB: E (Everyone) ELSPA: 3+ PEGI: 7+ (GameCube versions), 12+ (Virtual Console) OFLC: G8+, PG (Virtual Console) | platforms = Nintendo 64, Nintendo GameCube, iQue, Virtual Console | media = 256Mb (32MB) Nintendo 64 cartridge, Nintendo GameCube Game Disc | input = Gamepad }} (Hylian: ) is an action-adventure game developed by Nintendo Entertainment Analysis and Development and published by Nintendo for the Nintendo 64 as a part of Nintendo's critically acclaimed [[The Legend of Zelda series|''The Legend of Zelda series]]. It was followed by a direct sequel, Majora's Mask. The game begins with the series' trademark silent protagonist, Link, in the land of Hyrule. Link sets out on a quest to stop Ganondorf, the Zelda franchise's prime antagonist, from obtaining the Triforce. To stop Ganondorf, Link travels back and forth between a period of seven years using the titular Ocarina of Time. Ocarina enjoyed wide critical acclaim as well as commercial success. It has sold over 7.6 million copies over its lifetime, , and was the best-selling game in 1998 despite its November release. It also received perfect scores from numerous gaming media publications, most notably Famitsu, and went on to place highly or top several "greatest games of all time" lists, including those from Gamespot, IGN, and Edge Magazine. Gameplay Ocarina of Time is a 3D action-adventure game with role-playing and puzzle elements. The player controls Link from a third-person perspective using a control scheme that is common today, but was considered revolutionary at the time. Link primarily battles with a sword and shield; he can also use projectile weapons such as arrows, bombs, and magic spells.The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time instruction booklet, pp. 22–25. When battling, the player can cause Link to focus on an enemy through a new feature called "Z Targeting".The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time instruction booklet, pp. 11–12. When using this technique, the camera will follow the target and Link will constantly face it. Projectile attacks will be automatically directed at the target and do not require manual aiming. Although much of the game is spent in battle, some parts encourage the player to use stealth – an uncommon situation for the series. Link must avoid guards at times in both Hyrule Castle and the Gerudo Fortress. If spotted, Link is thrown out or imprisoned, and thus forced to start over. Link gains strength and new abilities through the collection of items and weapons found in dungeons or in the overworld. Not all are required – like all games in the series, Ocarina of Time has several optional side quests, minor objectives that the player can choose to complete or ignore. Completing the side quests usually results in rewards, normally in the form of weapons or abilities. In one side quest, Link trades items he cannot use among non-player characters. This trading sequence features ten items and ends with Link receiving the Biggoron Sword. In another side quest, Link can acquire a horse. This allows him to travel faster, but attacking while riding is restricted to arrows.The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time instruction booklet, p. 38. This mechanic was expanded for future games and is now common in the Zelda series. Link is given an ocarina near the beginning of the game, which is later replaced by the Ocarina of Time. Throughout the game, Link learns twelve melodies that allow him to solve music-based puzzles and to teleport.The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time instruction booklet, p. 30. The Ocarina of Time is also used to claim the Master Sword in the Temple of Time. When Link takes the sword, he is transported seven years into the future and becomes an adult. Young Link and adult Link have different abilities. For example, only adult Link can use the Fairy Bow, and only young Link can fit through certain small passages. Link can travel freely between the two time periods by replacing and taking the sword. Plot Setting The kingdom of Hyrule is connected to a mythical Sacred Realm which holds the Triforce, an object left behind by the creator goddesses of Hyrule after they finished creating it. The Triforce is capable of granting whoever holds it their heart's every desire. The Triforce, and Hyrule's door into the Sacred Realm, are protected by the Door of Time in the Temple of Time, which was built many ages ago by a group of ancient Sages. Characters : The Kingdom of Hyrule is inhabited by six different humanoid races. *The Hylians look basically human, except for their pointed, elf-like ears. They mostly live in Hyrule Castle Town, though some live in nearby Kakariko Village and others are scattered sporadically throughout Hyrule. They are ruled by a king (present but out of frame in the game), whose daughter is Princess Zelda. *The Kokiri are forest children who were created by the guardian spirit of Kokiri Forest, the Great Deku Tree. They never age and can never leave the forest. Link, the hero of the game, lives among them at the start of the game. His closest friend is a Kokiri named Saria. Link is not a true Kokiri but a Hylian, orphaned in the forest as a baby, and raised by the Great Deku Tree, who sensed Link to be a child of destiny. The Kokiri are led by Mido. *The Gorons are large, brown, rock-eating creatures that vary immensely in size and live in Goron City, halfway up Death Mountain, an active volcano. They are led by Darunia. *The Zoras are blue naked fish-like creatures, who live at the top of Zora's River, the kingdom's source of water. The river runs all the way through Hyrule to Lake Hylia at the very opposite end of the kingdom. The Zoras are ruled by King Zora (who, unlike most Zoras, happens to be enormously fat) who has a daughter, Princess Ruto. The guardian spirit of Zora's River is Lord Jabu-Jabu, an immense fish. *The Sheikah, sworn "shadow guardians" of the royal family, appear to be Hylian with red eyes. They possess various magical abilities and are known to operate from within the shadows. Impa, Zelda's childhood nanny and bodyguard, is said to be the last remaining Sheikah. She helped establish Kakariko Village, at the base of Death Mountain. *The Gerudo are an almost entirely female race of thieves who live in the desert to the west. Only one man is born to the Gerudo every hundred years, and he is supposed to become their king. The most recent of these is Ganondorf, a man with black armor and "evil eyes" who acts as adviser to the king of Hyrule. Ganondorf is the primary antagonist of the game. The Gerudo, however, are supposedly led by Nabooru, who refuses to acknowledge Ganondorf as her king. Other notable characters in the game include Link's fairy companion Navi, his horse Epona, the twin witches Twinrova (named Koume and Kotake), Zelda's alter-ego Sheik, and ranch hands Talon, Malon and Ingo. Talon and Malon are highly reminiscent of the characters Marin and Tarin in the previous title in the series, The Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. Story approaches the Great Deku Tree.]] The game opens with Link dreaming about standing in front of Hyrule Castle on a stormy night, seeing a young girl be carried away on horseback, pursued by a dark stranger. While Link sleeps, the Great Deku Tree, guardian of the Kokiri Forest where Link lives, is talking to the fairy Navi. The tree reveals that Link's destiny is to save Hyrule, and Navi must guide him. Navi summons Link to see the Deku Tree, and he arrives after convincing Mido, the Kokiri tribe leader, to let him pass. The tree tells Link that it is cursed and dying. Link enters the massive tree through its trunk and battles many foul creatures, including an enormous spider named Queen Gohma. Though the curse is now broken, the Deku Tree is beyond saving. It tells Link of a man in black armor who cast the dreadful curse upon him. It also gives Link the Kokiri Emerald, the Spiritual Stone of the Forest, and sends him to meet Princess Zelda at Hyrule Castle. The tree then dies, and as Link begins his journey, his closest friend Saria wishes him luck. En route, Link meets a strangely wise owl named Kaepora Gaebora, who offers advice. Link is able to find a secret passage into Hyrule Castle and sneaks past the guards to find Zelda. She tells Link that she has been having dreams about the future of Hyrule that she believes are prophetic, and that she foresaw Link's arrival. She believes that Ganondorf, the king of the Gerudo thieves, is trying to obtain an item known as the Triforce, a legendary item rumored to be so powerful that anyone who possesses it can control the world. It is also revealed that it was he who laid a curse on the Deku Tree. The Triforce is held in another dimension called the "Sacred Realm", which is secured by the Master Sword in its pedestal in the nearby Temple of Time. To keep the Triforce from Ganon, Zelda tells Link that he must obtain three sacred stones, of which Link's Kokiri Emerald is one, to unlock the Master Sword and open the Realm. Link is safely led out of the castle by Zelda's attendant, Impa. Link heads first to Goron City on Death Mountain, home to a race of large rock-eating creatures, where the Spiritual Stone of Fire is located. The Goron leader, Darunia, tells him that Ganondorf had already visited the Gorons and their city, and that he has blockaded the Dodongo's Cavern, the source of the Gorons' food. Link manages to enter the cavern, where he slays the mighty King Dodongo. Darunia is so relieved when he hears that the Gorons can eat again that he hands over the spiritual stone of fire, the Goron's Ruby. He also becomes Link's sworn brother. With only one stone left to collect, Link travels to Zora's Domain, where a race of aquatic creatures live. Upon arrival, however, he discovers that the Zora princess, Ruto, has disappeared. Link eventually finds out that Ruto has been swallowed by Lord Jabu-Jabu, a giant fish. Link gains entrance into Jabu-Jabu's belly, and finds that it too, has been cursed by Ganondorf. He then discovers that the Princess Ruto was not swallowed against her will, but simply chose to go into Jabu-Jabu. When she entered, she found that Jabu-Jabu was acting strangely. After defeating a monster called Barinade, Ruto is rescued and Jabu-Jabu is freed from his curse. Ruto is so impressed by Link's abilities that she hands over the Zora's Sapphire (the Spiritual Stone of Water). Ruto's mother, however, had instructed her that the stone should be given only to her fiancé, and so Ruto gives it to Link as a symbol of their engagement, much to Link's confusion. As Link returns to Hyrule Castle, the sky starts to become darker and forms more clouds. The drawbridge is shut, but opens up. As soon as the drawbridge sets, Impa and Princess Zelda burst out riding on a white horse to escape Ganondorf, who stops and confronts Link for a brief moment. As Impa and Zelda escape, Zelda throws the Ocarina of Time which lands in the river. After Link's confrontation with Ganondorf, he retrieves the ocarina and goes to the Temple of Time to retrieve the Master Sword. Link awakens to find himself in late adolescence. He is in a strange ethereal room called the Chamber of the Sages and is met by an old man named Rauru, who informs Link of how he was frozen in time for seven years until he was old enough to wield the Master Sword to defeat Ganon. Rauru then reveals himself as the ancient Sage of Light, one of the seven sages that protect the Triforce. He tells Link that if he can find the six other sages, they can imprison Ganondorf within the Sacred Realm. According to Rauru, each Sage is unaware of his or her true identity because of the evil now in the world, which clouds their spiritual resonance. Link must find six Spiritual Temples and free them of Ganon's monsters. Ganondorf, with the power of the Triforce, has conquered Hyrule and transformed it into a land of darkness. Seeing how the world has changed is all Link needs to devote himself to the enormous task of slaying the evil king and redeeming his homeland. Link is met by a mysterious character (a young man, in appearance) named Sheik, who appears periodically to guide him in his quest. Sheik guides Link to the Forest Temple in the Lost Woods. Deep within, he destroys a puppet named Phantom Ganon, and awakens the Forest Sage, who turns out to be his old Kokiri friend Saria. He returns to the Deku Tree's resting place to find that a Deku Sprout has started to grow. The sprout informs Link that he is actually a Hylian, who was entrusted to the Great Deku Tree's care briefly before his mother's death. In that age, Hyrule was burdened with a civil war. This explains why Link has grown up, while all of the other Kokiri have remained children. Next, Link ventures into the Fire Temple atop Death Mountain, where many Gorons have been imprisoned. He frees the Gorons and he defeats a snake-like dragon named Volvagia, and awakens Darunia as the Fire Sage. The Goron King then gives Link the Fire Medallion. Link moves on to Zora's Domain and finds that it has been abandoned and completely frozen over. Investigating further, he eventually locates the Water Temple in Lake Hylia. Within the temple, Link battles an evil, shadowy form of himself called Dark Link, and also defeats an aquatic monster called Morpha. Princess Ruto is awoken as the Water Sage (and realizes that perhaps her engagement with Link was never meant to be). After that, Link and Sheik arrive in the village of Kakariko, where he finds Sheik and discovers the town is on fire. A dark presence is coming up from the depths of the well and is terrorizing the people. It attacks Sheik and then goes for Link. After regaining consciousness, Link learns that the evil in the well broke its seal and went into the Shadow Temple. Impa, Zelda's former attendant went after it, and Sheik speculates that she is the next sage. He retrieves the Master Sword and enters the Shadow Temple. Link conquers the evil creature (called Bongo Bongo), and wakes the Shadow Sage, Impa. Link goes to the desert (where Ganondorf was born) and finds the fortress of the Gerudo thieves. At first they imprison him because they are a strict female-only group, except for their leader. After escaping, he continues through the Haunted Wasteland to the Spirit Temple. Unable to enter the temple without the Silver Gauntlets, Link is directed to go back in time to his childhood and obtain the powerful gloves. In doing so, he meets Nabooru, the second in command of the Gerudos. She tells him that she disagrees with Ganondorf's style and wants to stop him. Together, they retrieve the Silver Gauntlets, but a pair of witches kidnap Nabooru. With no other options, he turns back to an adult and uses the gauntlets himself to enter the temple. The two witches soon confront him and send an Iron Knuckle to fight him, who turns out to be Nabooru under a spell. He kills the witches, who form a being called Twinrova, and finds that Nabooru is the Spirit Sage. Eventually, Link returns to the Temple of Time in the future, where Sheik meets him once more. Sheik reveals that she is actually Princess Zelda in disguise. Zelda is also the seventh sage, the Sage of Wisdom, and the leader of all Sages. She tells Link that when Ganondorf took the Triforce, his heart was not in balance, so the Triforce split into three pieces. He kept the Triforce of Power, while Zelda gained the Triforce of Wisdom. Finally, through his perseverance, Link has been assigned the Triforce of Courage. Zelda also gives Link the magic Light Arrows needed to defeat the Lord of Darkness. Unfortunately, the meeting is observed by Ganondorf, who captures Zelda takes her prisoner in his huge tower (which has replaced Hyrule Castle). The remaining six Sages help Link enter the tower, and Link finally engages Ganondorf in battle. With all of his strength, Link defeats Ganondorf and rescues Zelda. Link and Zelda barely escape the tower as it crumbles, but out of the fallen rubble, Ganondorf rises again. Using the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf transforms into an extremely powerful form called Ganon. Link engages his nemesis, and with the help of Zelda and the other Sages, Ganon is defeated. Zelda and the Sages then use their power to lock Ganon away in the Sacred Realm where he will supposedly stay for the rest of time. Ganon vows, however, that the day in which the seal is destroyed or corrupted, he would return to exterminate their descendants. In the aftermath, a great celebration ensues with all of the residents of Hyrule. Zelda plays the Ocarina of Time one last time to send Link back in time to become his child self, before Ganon took over. As a child, Link sneaks into the castle once more to see the young princess. As they look at each other, the game ends (leading into the beginning of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.) Development Music Ocarina of Time's music was composed by Koji Kondo, Nintendo's primary composer. The music is culturally and worldly inspired, as exemplified in its diversity from cartoonish music in the Kokiri Forest to Spanish flamenco in the Gerudo Valley. In some locations, the music is a variation of an important ocarina tune related to that area. For example, in Lon Lon Ranch, the theme is Epona's Song, with small and large variations. The Hyrule overworld theme from past Zelda games, which is considered by most fans as the "official" Zelda tune, is not in Ocarina of Time in its entirety, although its opening phrase is subtly present in the Hyrule Field theme. This marks the only time in the series when the overworld theme has been absent. The theme for the Fire Temple was originally the Islamic shahadah. Due to some protest, Nintendo changed this in later cartridges to a theme without lyrics. Triforce rumors A very early work-in-progress screenshot of Ocarina of Time shows Link receiving the Triforce itself from a treasure chest. Such a scene never occurs anywhere in the final game, and the plot as it stands does not appear to allow for Link to gain the Triforce at any point. Despite this, there has been great speculation as to whether the Triforce exists in Ocarina of Time as an obtainable item, as it does in other Zelda games, rather than simply being referred to in the storyline. Even when hacking the game, it is impossible to actually gain the Triforce, unless in the beta version. The only thing possible is to see it. Some, however, point out a technicality that, in the storyline, Link obtains the Triforce of Courage when Ganondorf first enters the golden realm and obtains the Triforce of Power, and thus has it through the majority of the game. Leftovers Ever since its release, Ocarina of Time has been examined by members of the ROM and emulation community to find any leftovers in the game. So far, several major items have been found. While some have been found only through a GameShark, the leftovers indicate that various revisions (older, incomplete areas) have been left in the game’s code, and can be accessed by hacking them back in the game (or at least temporarily, with the GameShark and other cheat devices). The following has been found inside the Ocarina ROM that shows proof of unfinished concepts that were lost over time. *Leftover text (in Japanese) in the coding reveals that there were two usable medallions (from A Link to the Past) called the Wind and Ice Medallions at one point in development (it appears on the item selection screen and in different slots). *An ocarina pedestal (not found anywhere else) can be loaded into the area where Jabu-Jabu is if a specific GameShark code is used. The pedestal itself does not react to Link in any way. *A red ice platform (used to block access to a chest) can be found in the Ice Cavern by using a specific GameShark code. The same item can be found in the GCN release of Master Quest while doing the same dungeon. However, it does not appear in the same area it once was in. *Various areas throughout the game that were slightly modified before release, or have various NPCs normally not seen in that area. The areas with minor differences are: Kakariko Village (Adult), Lon Lon Ranch (Kid), and Goron City (Either). *By using the GameShark and the Expansion Pak, people can search through the data loaded into memory when playing the game. Several text strings are there, making reference to the Expansion Pak (which was required to use the Nintendo 64DD) and inserting an expansion disk (again referring to the planned 64DD expansion that became the "Master Quest" on the GameCube Zelda preorder disc). *There is a path on one side of the Temple of Time which cannot normally be accessed, as it is blocked by four Gossip Stones. These could not be blown up because no item (other than the Mask of Truth) can be used in the area. Using the moonjump code, it is possible to go behind the gossip stones and walk around; however, nothing else will happen, and if the player makes it past an invisible wall in that area, the game will freeze. A theory as to why this happens is that the player may have been able to go back there at one point in development but this idea was removed. There is a beta screenshot that looks similar to the back of the Temple of Time. '' Arwing.]] *A Gameshark code was discovered that allowed any NPC to be replaced with any other NPC in the game. Examples include various enemies, Ganondorf's organ, Dark Link, and even portions of Dark Link's "Illusion Room". Among these NPCs was found a fully coded Arwing enemy. The enemy has a full attack and movement AI programmed, shooting at Link with lasers with original sound effects. When destroyed, it crashes to the ground resulting in unpolished explosion and flame effects. A similar code can be found in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. *It is possible through using a certain Gameshark code for the Adult Link to use the boomerang. It can be used by Adult Link to stun and harm enemies, but there is no graphic of him holding the boomerang. This may suggest that, early on in the game's development, Adult Link was able to use the boomerang. Release Ocarina of Time itself gained a ferocious amount of hype before release, the end result of which was that only those who had pre-ordered the game had any guarantee of receiving a copy. The first two Zelda games released for the NES had golden cartridges, rather than the standard gray-colored cartridges used for almost every other licensed game for the console. Keeping with the tradition, pre-ordered copies of Ocarina of Time were also golden. Also, the box cover had a thick, plastic card glued over the original cover. However, this was not the case in Europe where the game had a standard gray-cartridge owing to Nintendo of Europe (although there were actually some gold cartridges, they were only available very briefly). A possible incentive was an economic one, as standard gray cartridges are inexpensive compared to custom made golden models. It should be noted that Australia (which is, like Europe, part of the PAL region) had golden cartridges. Also, the sequel to Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, had a golden cartridge in Australia, Europe (and in North America). PAL cartridges are very noticeably different from NTSC cartridges. PAL, having a golden Ocarina of Time picture with a black background on a gray cartridge, and NTSC having a normally colored Ocarina of Time picture with a goldish background on the noted gray, or golden cartridges. The Australian PAL versions also come in either gold or gray cartridges. Versions Several changes were made to the game after the initial release of Ocarina of Time in 1998. All of the gold cartridges, and some of the gray cartridges, that came out that year are version 1.0. Version 1.1 gray cartridges began to be released in early 1999, in which Nintendo fixed a number of bugs and glitches from the first version. This was followed by a version 1.2, which has the Player's Choice Million Seller seal on the cartridge and box. The most notable difference between version 1.0 and the later versions is that version 1.0 contains a trick that allows one to play the game without the Master Sword, which in turn allows one to use any item on Epona. Version 1.1 is very similar to Version 1.0 except that players cannot perform the above trick (there is a different known method that works on all versions, including GameCube ones). Another difference between the two versions is the coloring of Ganon's blood at the end of the game. In Version 1.0, Ganon's blood is red; Version 1.1 is known to have two variations, one with green blood, and one with red blood. Meanwhile, Version 1.2 only has green blood. Finally, the original theme for the Fire Temple angered the Muslim community because of its similarity to an Islamic prayer call. "Alternate Versions for Zeruda no Densetsu: Toki no okarina (1998) (VG)", Internet Movie Database. URL accessed on June 3, 2006. In response, Nintendo redid the theme for later versions of the game. Ocarina of Time was re-released in two different forms for the Nintendo Gamecube as part of the The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest and The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition compilation discs. In both the Master Quest and Collector's Edition, the game was an emulated ROM instead of a port. One significant difference in these versions is that Nintendo altered the original crescent moon and star symbol of the Gerudo to a design later used to represent the pirates in Majora's Mask, again due to Muslim protest. ''Master Quest'' The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time Master Quest was available for those who pre-ordered The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker in America, as well as in a special Gamecube bundle at Wal-Mart. In Europe and Australia the disc came in the same case as the initial pressings of The Wind Waker. The "Master Quest" in the title refers to a remixed version of the game that contained rearranged dungeons, much like the Second Quest of The Legend of Zelda. Both the original game and the Master Quest are available on the disc. ''Collector's Edition'' The game was also re-released as part of the compilation The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition, which was available in GameCube bundles in Europe and North America, as well as by registering hardware and software, or by subscribing to official magazines or clubs. The disc also contained several other Zelda games and a Zelda retrospective. ''Virtual Console'' On February 26th, Nintendo released Ocarina of Time as a Wii Virtual Console title in America. The game had already been released in Europe and in Japan. The game is available for download at the price of 1,000 Wii Points ($10). Reception and impact Ocarina of Time met with both commercial and critical success. Reviewers praised the graphics, soundtrack, gameplay, and story. It has been inducted into GameSpot's "Greatest Games of All Time" list, and is ranked fourth on the 2007 edition of IGN's top 100 games of all time list. It is also the first game to receive a perfect score from Famitsu. In 1998, Ocarina of Time won the Grand Prize in the Interactive Art division at the Japan Media Arts Festival. It also won six awards at the 2nd Annual Interactive Achievement Awards including "Game of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Interactive Design", "Outstanding Achievement in Software Engineering", "Console Game of the Year", "Console Adventure Game of the Year", and "Console RPG of the Year". Despite being available for only the last 39 days of the year, it was the best-selling game of 1998, with 2.5 million units sold. It went on to sell a total of 7.6 million copies worldwide. Criticisms for Ocarina of Time started to appear on the game's re-releases, with reviews for Master Quest and the Virtual Console version considering the graphics and sound technologies dated. The most recent Gamespot review awarded a score of 8.9 out of 10 for these reasons. See also * The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time weapons and items * Ocarina of Time: Master Quest Glitches * Ocarina of Time Characters References External links *Official site *[http://www.zelda.com/universe/game/ocarinatime/ Ocarina of Time at Nintendo's Zelda Universe] *Zelda's Secret Ocarina - dedicated to the Beta Quest and other lost regions of the Ocarina of Time game data *Zelda 64 Pro - dedicated to the many glitches and GameShark related issues with the game *Financial information at N-Sider.com *The Odyssey of Hyrule - glitches and gameshark codes for beta quest and other hacking adventures in the game. *Speed Demos Archive - Ocarina of Time Speedruns * * * Category: Games